


We keep this love in a photograph

by martaangelo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tales of the tower (Marvel AU)
Genre: Covers a long ass time, F/M, Memories, Photographs, Tales of the tower AU, like probably 30/40 years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 23:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9350108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martaangelo/pseuds/martaangelo
Summary: The picture followed Amanda's desk for the next decade, in New York, Ithaca, Wakanda and then New York again.In which Peggy has a stack of old pictures from the war that she passes on to Sharon. Sharon then shares them with Steve, Bucky and his wife, Amanda.Set in the "Tales of the tower" universe from NyxEtoile and OlivesAwl, so it won't make much sense if you haven't read that.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lifelong Love Letter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4012279) by [NyxEtoile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxEtoile/pseuds/NyxEtoile), [OlivesAwl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlivesAwl/pseuds/OlivesAwl). 



> Inspired by this tumblr post and thread.  
> http://nyxetoile.tumblr.com/post/155739294403/martaangelo98-nyxetoile-martaangelo98
> 
> Title from Ed Sheeran's song.

There was this box, under the coffee table at Aunt Peggy's house.

Sharon would go there twice a week, after taekwondo practice, and do her homework until one of her parents picked her up.

Sometimes, when she finished her assignments early and Peggy was feeling chatty, the box got dragged to the couch and opened. If she was staying the night, then the box was a must.

They'd curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and Peggy would let Sharon pick an object from the box, whatever she wanted, and she would tell a story about that object.

There was a red dress, the only one she was able to bring to war. Her S.H.I.E.L.D. badge, a bit chipped after all those years. Letters from her friends. And in a smaller box there were photos, a stack of them. Of the Howling Commandos, a lot of Bucky, of Howard, of the other soldiers.

Only one of Steve before he was injected with the serum. She called it the only surviving picture of Steve Rogers.

Sharon would listen at her for hours, knowing full well that while aunt Peggy always tried to work some moral into her stories, they were mostly about reminiscing and pleasing her niece.

 

Once she picked up a hair pin, the one that Peggy sported at every family gathering she showed up at.

"I don't think I've ever told you that story, have I?" she took the pin from her niece, running her thumb on the rubies and sapphires. "Well this was a gift form Howard" she said with a fond smile. "Just before the commandos started going on missions together, Steve was choosing his uniform and arms in Howard's lab".

"Is this the story of when you told him off for being rude to you?" pouted little Sharon. "I've already heard that one!".

_Told him off_  standing for shooted at him, and  _being rude to you_  standing for for kissing another woman while they clearly had something between them, because Sharon's parents would never let her hear the end of it if she told her niece she shot at Captain America.

"Well, you see there is more to it, dear heart" remarked Peggy gently. "Howard, after I told Steve off, was so impressed with my ability to make a man twice my size cower like that that he commissioned this to the only goldsmith there was in the ray of 100 miles" she took in her niece's wide eyes, hiding a smirk. "It wasn't finished until after Steve's plane crashed, so I shared a laugh and a couple tears with Howard when he gave it to me".

"So this is not a good memory" Sharon said quietly, now sad that she had made her aunt sad.

"It's bittersweet" she corrected her, stroking her hair out of her face, comforting her. "It's both sad and happy, but it's still a good memory".

 

Turns out, there were a lot of bittersweet memories in Peggy's box.

 

 

 

Later on the physical reminders helped her remember the details, then not forget the stories.

In her nursing home room the box was stored in the bottom drawer of her dresser. If Peggy was having a good day Sharon would open in and star telling her the stories. Sometimes Peggy followed along, adding commentary and never heard before bits that were not safe for the ears of a ten year old. But sometimes she would listen in silence and then say something like: "Well darling, that's a lovely story" and go back to blankness.

There was a particular photo that Sharon avoided like the plague when the visited. It was of Bucky, in his uniform, rifle on his shoulder, hands on his belt, looking off into the distance. It was taken before the departure for the Alps, a few days before the fall. Peggy always teared up if she saw it, so she preferred sparing her aunt the unnecessary pain.

 

 

**2014 Washington**

When Peggy died, Sharon took the box home before someone else did, because she knew that if Lily, Peggy's daughter, took hold of it the beautiful memories would be thrown in the trash.

When she saw Steve at the funeral it was a bit of a shock, he didn't look like the man in the pictures, or the one she had lived across the hall from, at all, but chasing your once best friend across half eastern Europe and then losing the love of your life would do that to someone, even to him.

When she offered to help him find Bucky, in the coffee shop where they were sharing brownies, he regained some of the warmth his his eyes, that had looked so foreign without it.

 

She almost e-mailed him about the pictures several times in the two years they corresponded, especially when they started sending each other sketches and photos from around the globe. She would type a sentence and then delete it, thinking it sounded weird or like she was overstepping the imaginary line they seemed to have drawn, the line that if overstepped would throw this friendship into something more, something neither of them would be able to handle in this period of their lives.

 

 

**2016 Washington**

When in July Steve made the move they both had been too chicken to do, Sharon finally understood what Peggy meant by "the only surviving picture of Steve Rogers".

When they stopped kissing by her front door, and she looked at him, there was not a hint of Captain America in him, even if he was wearing his full uniform. He was all Steve.

 

 

When he came down in August for her birthday she finally remembered to show him the box.

They were in her bed, it was around 3am, his head was on her stomach while she played with his hair. They had been talking about Amanda's PTSD, a gift from Hydra's kidnappers, when she interrupted herself with: "Wait, before I forget, I want to show you something".

She got out from under him, turned the bedside light on, picked up his shirt and throwed it on on her way to her closet. After rummaging in the back of it for a moment she produced a little box and brought it over to him.

Steve sat against the headboard, interested: "What is that?".

"Hopefully some happy memories" she smiled uncertain, sitting next to him and placing the box in his lap.

He opened it, now confused.

He picked up the photos with an expression she couldn't read. "Where did you get these?"

"Peggy had them, took them out when she was feeling nostalgic".

He held up his picture, the Picture. "I didn't think a photo of me like this still existed".

"That's my favourite one, and hers. She called it the only surviving picture of Steve Rogers".

He was silent for a minute or two, going trough the pictures. He smiled at the one taken at his birthday, Bucky rubbing his head while Steve pretend to be annoyed.

"Buck would love these, and Amanda too".

"I was thinking of giving them to him sometimes, when we meet" she looked at him. "Sway him so he spares me the "don't break his heart or I break your face" lecture".

"I approve" Steve said, looping an arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head. "And I'll break his face if he breaks your face" he chuckled, imagining the scene.

"I had wanted to tell you about them but I couldn't figure out how to work it into a conversation" she nuzzled his shoulder, taking in his warmth.

"That's ok, this is just perfect".

 

Later that night, when he was sure she was asleep, he murmured "Sharon". He didn't see her stir, so he murmured in the same tone "I love you" and held her tighter, burrowing his face in her hair.

 

He left for New York monday morning, kissing her on her doorstep for so long she lost sense of time.

"Mmm, please go away, before I drag you inside again" she murmured when he released her.

"Yes ma'am" he smiled against her lips. "I'll see you soon, I promise", kissing her one last time before turning his back and going away.

 

 

In September Steve was shot while chaperoning Doctor Newbury to her FDA meeting. When Sharon packed her cat and her bag to go to New York, the last thing she though of bringing were the photos.

 

It was their first night in Rome after the shooting when she said: "We could give them the pictures as part of their wedding gift".

Steve looked at her from across their hotel balcony "That would make things easier, yes, the wedding is in two weeks and we haven't bought anything yet".

"We should go to Via Condotti tomorrow, see if we find something fancy there" she smiled, already seeing the wheels in his head turning, thinking about how they could fit the impromptu shopping trip in their schedule.

"Also something for the baby shower while we are at it" he came up behind her and caged her with his arms to the balcony rail. "I don't think I've ever been this relaxed" said Steve in her hear, both of them looking at the Colosseum in the distance. "If you tell her I'll blame it on brain damage, but Amanda was right, I needed this".

She turned her head so he could kiss him under his jaw "I would never tattle on you" and then pulled him back inside.

 

 

During the wedding they endured some gentle ribbing from the team about when they were going to seal the deal, especially after Amanda threw the bouquet right at Sharon.

Bucky reported some stoic-hormonal-totally-not-crying-because-my-husband-is-so-handsome-and-my-friends-are-awsome from Amanda when she opened the photos. After they got back at the Tower from their honeymoon one went on the wall of their apartment, next to one of their wedding and then the one at Clint an Natasha's Vegas wedding that Sharon had taken, his hand around her round belly, her clad in the sparkly bridesmaid dress.

Another one got an honorary place on her desk in the infirmary, in an IKEA frame because James hated it and she found it hilarious.

 

She thought of putting one in her Iron-Doc suit, when the Ultron mess began, but then decided that the one she already had of James tickling Edie was enough sentimentality.

 

 

 

 

The picture followed Amanda's desk for the next decade, in New York, Ithaca, Wakanda and then New York again.

 

 

**2020 Wakanda**

"And we are all done" said Amanda, wrapping up Sharon's arm with gauze. "You and Steve can go forth and multiply".

The two women were in the doctor's lab, she had just removed Sharon's IUD so she and Steve could begin to try for baby number two.

Amanda was tidying her equipment when she saw that the younger woman was staring at James's photo on her desk.

"I would have loved to meet her" Doc said absent-mindedly. "Peggy" she added, after receiving a perplexed look from Sharon.

"She would have been proud of you, of what you did withe the serum" she replied smiling "you would have gotten along well".

"I like to think so. Speaking of the serum, you know, I told Hesse that if they gave it to Peggy the war would have been over in a week".

Sharon now beamed "Ooooh I would have payed so much money to see that".

"You save that thought, it will be useful tomorrow"

 

The next day they would board a private jet from the Wakandan capital with the rest of the wives to go to Paris and have their first official Wives Club since the Accords. Even Maria was getting out of London for this one.

They would all thoroughly enjoy the mental image of a badass, super soldier-ed Peggy Carter.

Sharon had slaved and yelled a lot for them to be granted to go to Europe without repercussions.

Now they were taking full advantage of it, and shoving it under the US nose while they were at it.

 

 

**2026 New York**

Amanda thumped her head on her desk, stressed and tired out of her mind.

She had been reviewing candidates for her replacement as the Avengers field doc for the whole damn day, but the more she looked at the files she had, the more she grew frustrated. The problem was not that they were unqualified, or unmotivated. It was that she couldn't pinpoint exactly was she was looking for. An exact replica of her? Someone that would complement the new team? A leader or a team player?

 

"You gotta stop staring at those files like they did something to you, darlin' " James said in her ear, having sneaked up on her.

"They are doing nothing, that's the problem" she pulled his arms around her, leaning the back of her head against his chest.

"Come home, the kids waiting for you to fall asleep" he turned her chair, pulling her out of her chair. "Take the day off tomorrow, don't think about it for a while, or it'll end up like last year and you'll give up".

"Ok, let me put these away" she picked up the files and put them in the document holder, which had the picture of James on top of it.

"That frame is looking a little beaten-up" observed James nonchalantly.

"I'm not replacing it" Amanda pecked his cheek and pulled him out of her office towards the elevator. "Make peace with it".

"It's just...".

"Nope".

"Alright" he rolled his eyes at her, but he was smiling.

 

**Author's Note:**

> "She would tipe a sentence and then delete it" "I had wanted to tell you about them but I couldn't figure out how to work it into a conversation" aka the author doesn't know how Sharon would tell him so she hides it in plain sight.
> 
> I wrote the Sharon-showning-Peggy-the-pictures and then 10 minutes later the chapter of Secret Chord came out with Tess promising to do the same and I was like "Dang it!!!".  
>  
> 
> Another headcanon that I have and might turn into a fic:
> 
> Bucky has a number of skills he discovers once the wives show him the whole different-languages-mazes in his head, because if Hydra had taught him something, it stayed in the maze of the language it was taught to him in.  
> The first one he discovered was that he could play the piano. Ada had gotten into her head that she wanted to learn to play the piano, so T'Challa lended her the palace piano to practice. Months later Bucky was passing to go to a meeting when he hears opera in German coming out of Ada's tablet and her trying to play the piano part. He has a flashback to him playing the piano at a party, suddenly the knowledge and skill coming back to him.  
> Ora helps him work out that Hydra needed a clean infiltration in a embassy in Germany to get rid of an unwanted official, so they got him to play the piano at a new year's party.  
> They now play four hand pieces at every family gathering. Tony mocks him and Steve endlessly for being the "art uncles" while he is the "science uncle", but secretly finds it very sweet. That is also one of the reasons why Amanda and Ada grew so close, other than science of course, because she was at their house a lot for her piano lessons.  
> Ada even picks up a little German to talk to Bucky while they play (doesn't work if he is not thinking in German).  
> After that happened he has a lot of talks with Ora, especially in the armoury. He discovers he can throw knives like nobody's business and, to everyone's surprise, that he is kind of a decent archer.  
> Clint pouted for a week after that one.


End file.
